Marty Supreme

Synopsis: A young hustler in 1952 NYC tries to become a world-famous ping pong player.

Marty is a hustler. He lies like a rug. He’s the sort of person you should walk away from, but he has a host of homeboys and associates to scheme with and to do his bidding. He has a married girlfriend too.

Marty has ambitions to become a table tennis world champion. He’s working in a shoe store to earn money to get himself to a championship in London. He speculates that the sport will become as big in America as it is in Japan. He’s certain that this is his path to fame and fortune. It’s Marty’s version of the American Dream.

Marty Mauser is ambitious, and so is the actor who plays him, Timothée Chalamet. When Timmee accepted a SAG award for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, he announced that he is ‘in pursuit of greatness.’ I wonder if playing Willy Wonka was a part of that plan?

Chalamet was off to a strong start with his smitten character Elio in Call Me by Your Name (2017). Since then, he’s led, along with Zendaya, the big budget Dune movies. My personal fave is his turn as Laurie in Little Women where his character tries, and fails, to win Jo’s heart.

Here, in Marty Supreme, Marty and Timothée’s ambitions match up.

In 1952, NYC, Marty is the best shoe salesman at his uncle’s store. He’s eager to earn the money for a flight to London’s table tennis competition. When his girlfriend Rachel (Odessa A’zion) walks into the store, they make eye contact and Marty ushers her to the backroom. Among the shelves of shoes, they have intercourse. I picture people in the 50’s using their short work breaks to have  a cigarette. This is a healthier option. Anyway, Marty has to hurry back to a customer and Rachel needs to get back to her place before her husband notices she’s gone out.

Josh Safdie is the film’s director and, along with Ronald Bronstein, the screenwriter. If you’ve seen Uncut Gems, which Josh directed with his brother Benny, you’ll see that the vibe is the same. It’s a three-ring circus with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in.

Marty’s ambitions are helped by the fact that he has no qualms. He lies, cheats and steals. We learn that he learned prevarication from his mom Rebecca, played by the most famous nanny from Queens, Fran Drescher. He’s the kind of guy that, if one of the women he’s had sex with says she’s pregnant, he immediately spits out that ‘it’s not mine’ before literally running away.

Early on, he does make it to London. You might imagine that Marty will take a break from lying while he’s playing in the table tennis tournament in London. Not at all! He doesn’t like the digs where he and the other players are assigned to stay, so he installs himself at the Ritz, charging the room to the table tennis league.

Soon after, Marty is sitting in the hotel lobby being interviewed. He’s interrupted from his self-promotion when he sees a glamorous middle-aged woman. It’s Gwyneth Paltrow! She’s playing Kay Stone, a former star of the silver screen. Marty sets to hitting on her whenever he isn’t playing a match. I’m not sure if he just likes the challenge of seducing her or he considers that she might be a mark. Her husband is played by the Shark Tank Guy (Kevin O’Leary), as a wealthy ball-buster. Well…ball busting? More like a butt paddler. Yup, a situation arises in which Marty accepts a whooping to get a concession from Shark Tank Guy. I felt a little sorry for Marty, but he was  trying to steal from Gwynnie. I felt sorrier for Timmee when he went full-on Method, and insisted that Kevin O’Leary actually smack his butt for the film. Is this part of Chalamet’s Oscar plan?

Timmee impressed me with his ping ponging. Admittedly, I am a person who knows nothing about table tennis. On an ep of The Tonight Show Chalamet told host Jimmy Fallon that he trained for seven years to play Marty. By contrast, Bradley Cooper practiced for about six years to portray mid Twentieth-Century conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. Cooper also went all-in with a prosthetic nose to appear more like the conductor. That played a little awkwardly. He didn’t win an Oscar.

Timmee’s makeup team gives him a glow-down. Marty has pock marks, nicks and freckles on his face. Adding to the look, he’s further mussed up with a scant mustache and unibrow. Chalamet’s girlfriend, lip kit mogul Kylie Jenner probably would’ve been icked out and fainted if she saw him like this on-set.

Marty Supreme careens from one pulsating scene to the next: Marty dashes and thrashes ping ponging, runs through city streets and shops to escape antagonists, sexes his girlfriend and Gwynnie, out-talks and outmaneuvers a host of adversaries and friends. There is violence. There are slurs against a Black man, Marty’s girlfriend and an overweight man. Marty doesn’t swear at anyone, but he does take money to bring a German Shepherd to the vet and promises he’ll do it right away. Instead, he runs a hustle with a friend while the injured dog sits in the car. Grrr…

All of this is to say that Marty is a hard guy to root for. He’s a schmuck; that’s Yiddish for dick.

Will the screenwriters give Marty a chance to redeem himself by thinking of someone besides himself? Maybe. But I wouldn’t bet on Marty becoming a mensch. I might bet on him winning a table tennis championship.

Movie Loon’s Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:  B-

Cut to the Chase:  A showcase for Timothée Chalamet. A must-see for Safdie fans. Odessa A’zion is effective as Rachel who is, too bad for her, addicted to her bad boy boyfriend, Marty.

Humor Highlight:  Marty uses a friend, Dion (Luke Manley), to get access to his Dion’s father’s money. The father doesn’t want to ‘invest’ in his ping pong career and tells him to get out of his place. Marty emphatically insists: I give him meaning! All you give him is money.”